Independence of the Dark
by Dark Callisto
Summary: When Harry learns that he had been a mere pawn in the grand scheme of "Greater Good", he vows revenge. With Sirius dead, Harry gives free reign to his darker side, only to discern the injustice and bigotry of the Wizaring World to the dark. The Dark needs a Leader, a Lord to lead them. Will the the saviour become the Avenger? Eventual Harry/Draco slash. Very dark, powerful Harry.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.**

**Warning: Eventual Harry/Draco slash. Includes a very dark/cunning/manipulative Harry.**

**Chapter 1**

The windows rattled in their frames, as heavy gusts of wind battered the stone walls of Hogwarts. The weather outside the castle mirrored the turbulent thoughts within one very pissed-off Harry Potter who was currently ensconced within the Room Of Requirement.

And the person who had roused Harry's ire was none other than the esteemed Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. Staring at the small piece of stone on the floor, Harry suddenly smirked, realizing that the small crooked stone piece was the cracked nose of the Old coot's statue; that he had blasted not five minutes earlier. Sighing, he speculated about the events that had had him running here.

* * *

**[begin flashback]**

_Harry had been waiting for the Headmaster to return from the Ministry after the fiasco that had happened at the Department of Mysteries; his mind, in the meantime, was running through various possibilities, all of them starting with 'what-ifs'. He knew he was wasting his time, thinking of all the alternative ways in which he could have saved Sirius .Because Sirius was DEAD and he wasn't coming back. But that didn't mean he couldn't wonder. _

_Cursing the Headmaster for his tardiness, Harry stood up from his chair, which in truth was a rainbow-coloured monstrosity and glared at it. As if realizing the danger it was in, the armchair changed its colouring to black which suited Harry's current disposition perfectly. Much better , Harry decided. _

_He peered through the window and noticed the shadow that had fallen upon the castle grounds. He could see Hagrid doing some work in his garden while Fang stood guard, guarding what, Harrry didn't know. Just then, the Headmaster flooed in through the fireplace dusting off the soot from his robes. About time, Harry mentally groused. He needed some time alone to grieve for Sirius and he was not in the mood for the Headmaster to monopolize him._

_"Please sit down, Harry", the Headmaster said indicating the now black coloured armchair while he sat upon a winged back chair on the other side of the desk._

_Harry plopped into his chair and resolutely stared at the inkwell perched on the desk. He wasn't going to start the conversation. The Headmaster shifted in his chair slightly._

_"Harry, my dear boy, I know that losing Sirius was a hard blow for you, but you mustn't blame yourself for his death"_

_"Headmaster, not to be disrespectful or anything, but what makes you think I'm blaming myself for Sirius' death?" Liar, Harry chided himself. He wasn't going to deceive himself, he perfectly knew that part of the blame rested on his shoulders .Not everything, mind you; but some part would always be on his consciousness because Sirius wouldn't even have come there, hadn't it been for him. But still, there was no need for Dumbledore to know that. It would be just like the Headmaster to exploit his guilt and manipulate him according to his plans._

_Dumbledore looked taken aback for an instant, before he rearranged his expression into one of understanding. "Ah,ah..there is no need for dishonesty between us, is there Harry? I won't think any less of you if you accept the blame. After all, it maybe an exasperating quality, but nonetheless, it is a noble quality"_

_"I'm not lying Professor", Harry lied through his teeth. Only you, old man, would make me think its a noble quality. When, in fact, it is such a stupid tendency to lay unnecessary blame at your own door when it is out of your hands. "Enough of this, Sir, I don't want to talk about Sirius anymore"_

_Dumbledore regarded him silently, willing him to look into his eyes. Harry stubbornly glared at a point over the Headmaster's shoulder._

_"As you wish, my dear boy. Now I know, you want to know the details of the conversation that transpired with the minister and myself. Alas, I regret to inform you that once the shock of seeing Voldemort died down, the minister accused us of using illusions to deceive the ministry. But, some of the ministry officials who saw the debacle believe us. Thankfully, the contrary views among them and the lack of traces on the usage of any illusionary magic, stopped the minister from arresting us then and there. And, as he so eloquently put it, he was graciously allowing us to walk free just this once."_

_"The bastard. Why can't he acknowledge the truth that is staring him right in the face?" Harry burst out, an expression of utter incredulity on his face. How can anyone be so thick? He even made Crabbe and Goyle to look intelligent._

_"Language, Harry", Dumbledore admonished."Now, don't lose heart. The Unspeakables are investigating the area where they are bound to find some evidences of an actual battle that had taken place and then they will be able to conform that it was not a hoax set by us. Besides, Voldemort won't remain in hiding much longer, now that the copy of the prophecy is destroyed and there is nothing holding him back from revealing himself to the Wizarding World"._

_"A copy of the prophecy? Does that mean that the real thing is still out there?", Harry asked. Not that he particularly cared if it still existed or not. Obviously, the headmaster wanted him to ask the question, so why not indulge the old man?_

_"Ah, the prophecy. Yes, the prophecy at the Department of Mysteries, was only a copy of the original one. But do not worry, as the original one is my memory of the prophecy which was made to me and no one knows the content of it"_

_"A prophecy about me and Voldemort was made to you? By whom?", Harry enquired. Now that the possibility of hearing the prophecy was real, his curiosity sparked. While another part of his mind was wondering, why the headmaster had not breathed a word about it to him all these days, when he had obviously known about it for a long time._

"_By Sibyll Trelawney, the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer, Cassandra Trelawney. On a cold, wet night sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher. But it was evident that Sibyll had not a trace of the gift herself. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post. I turned to leave." _

_Dumbledore got up to fetch the pensieve from the cabinet and placed it on the desk. Placing his wand to his own temple, he removed silvery white strands of thought attached to the wand and placed it within the pensieve. _

_A figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to enormous size behind her glasses, and she revolved slowly; her feet in the basin. But when Sibyll Trelawney spoke, it was not in her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in the harsh, hoarse tones Harry had heard her use once before: _

"_**The one with the power to vanquish the - Dark Lord approaches… **_

_**born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… **_

_**and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… **_

_**and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… **_

_**the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"**_

_The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished. Silence reined in the office as each were lost in their own thoughts. _

_Harry scowled at the pensieve. Did prophecies have to sound so dour? The prophecy wasn't much of a shock to him. He wasn't stupid, he knew it was related to something that had made Voldemort come to Godric's Hollow to kill him on that fated Halloween's Day. To his surprise, he wasn't scared that it would come to an eventual show-down between Voldemort and him, which would evidently result in only one of them surviving. Because, he would have tried his damn best to kill that pathetic creature which called itself Voldemort or died trying, prophecy or not. But still, it annoyed him that whatever he was going to do, had already been dictated by a fucking prophecy. It rubbed him the wrong way. But all of this begged another question, how did Voldemort come to know the existence of the prophecy?_

_"Sir, how did Voldemort come to know the content of the prophecy?", Harry queried._

_If Dumbledore was surprised regarding his lack of reaction and questions on the prophecy, he hid it well. He thankfully answered the question Harry asked, rather than pestering him about what his thoughts were concerning the contents of the prophecy; because he would have been sorely disappointed;_

_"Unfortunately, as I found out that night, The Hog's Head is not a safe place to carry out important conversations. Lord Voldemort's follower had eavesdropped on the interview in hopes of gathering some news for his master, and as the muggles would call it, had hit the proverbial jackpot-he had heard the starting two lines of the prophecy before he was detected and thrown out by the barkeeper. However ,the damage was done and according to the prophecy, there were two viable candidates to fulfil the prophecy-One is you and the other is Neville Longbottom."_

_Harry blinked. Neville, huh? Neville Longbottom is a good person, capable of following and loyal to a fault, but he was no leader, Harry surmised. Now, I wonder why Voldie chose me rather than Neville? Perhaps, I'll ask him the next time I see him..._

_"Ah. I see. And perhaps, now I ask the most important question of all. Why had I not been informed all of this earlier?" Harry bit out coldly._

_Dumbledore peered at him from on top of his half-moon glasses, then sighed and looked out through the window before turning back to him. He had been hoping the boy would not ask him that question. Well, he had to answer him something._

_Harry tried to calm his furious emotions as the old fool tried to sell him some story about how he had come to care for the boy too much and had been unable to foist such a burden on his young shoulders. codswallop! He very well knew that the headmaster knew that he would have been able to face the truth in his second year, atleast if not in his first year. The meddlesome coot had had some other agenda and he would find out one way or other. _

_"I see,", Harry repeated, "and not telling me the prophecy doesn't have anything to do with me being forced to stay at Privet Drive, Professor?", Harry asked in a deceptive voice. He had a hunch on what the Headmaster had tried to do and it made his blood boil at the thought._

_Dumbledore blanched for a fraction of a second before he gained control of his expression. "Of course not, Harry. I placed you at your relatives' home for your protection and theirs. I knew you would suffer ten long and difficult years, but it was the only choice for many of Voldemort's followers were still at large. Why, I was so happy when you arrived here , unfortunately malnourished-yet happy and had already made wonderful friends with the Weasleys before you even arrived at the castle. I couldn't have been more proud to see that you were a very humble boy instead of a pampered prince"_

_The last two sentences were enough to confirm Harry's suspicions .Harry stared at his hands, as he struggled not to throttle the headmaster. One which he was losing spectacularly as the frames and windows began to rattle, as soon as his magic began reacting to his anger. No no... this was not the time to let his magic free, Harry concluded. If the old goat saw his magic now, he would no doubt realize there was more to him than his golden boy. He had to get out now, Harry decided._

_Harry abruptly stood up from his chair, and walked to the window to see the storm clouds rolling in the sky. Harry suddenly hoped there would be a thunder storm that night. And a heavy one at that. Bringing his emotions under control for the moment, he stated, "If that is all Professor, I'd like to return to my dorms"_

_"Yes. Of course Harry. If you want to talk about anything, my doors are always open for you", Dumbledore smiled at him, however the customary twinkle was absent from his eyes._

_Harry nodded. Walking upto the door, he twisted the Griffin-head locker open and gently shut it behind him. Deciding quickly, he ran to the Room of Requirement, knowing that it would provide him with what he needed._

_He reached the seventh floor in record time and stood facing the stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet._

_I need some place to vent off my anger...he thought. I need some place to vent off my anger... I need some place to vent off my anger... pacing in front of the wall three times. _

_Immediately, a large wooden door appeared on the wall and he quickly rushed inside, locking it behind him. That's interesting, he mused. The room had graciously provided him with human statues, and the statues' faces morphed into the faces of the persons he wanted to hurt badly, namely Dumbledore, Voldemort, Bellatrix, Fudge, Snape, Umbridge, known deatheaters and some masked deatheaters._

_Harry grinned, twirling his wand in between his fingers. Pointing his wand right in front of Dumbledore's face, he shouted, "Reducto" and watched in glee as the headmaster's statue was blasted into smithereens. And frowned when another Dumbledore took its place._

_Incensed, Harry fired the reductor curse and the blasting curse rapidly, one after the other, at the statues and soon the room was filled with minute pieces of stone and dust, accompanied with Harry's yelling and sounds of stone blasting into high heavens._

_"Reducto!Bombarda!Reducto!Reducto!Reducto!Bombarda !Bombarda!Reducto...", Harry cursed._

_After nearly ten minutes of blasting statues, Harry stopped, sweating and panting, covered in a fine layer of dust. True, that had been enjoyable, but it still didn't satisfy something deep within him._

**[end flashback]**

* * *

Harry's blood boiled at the audacity of the Headmaster. Harry had figured out the reason why the fool had not told him of the prophecy before. It was very simple. Dumbledore had wanted to mould him into a tool. A weapon. The old man had created the circumstances which would make him into his little golden boy.

He had placed him at Privet Drive, fully knowing that he would be abused there and that he would immediately warm up to anyone who showed him the least bit of kindness, once he was outside that household. And surprise, he meets Hagrid who warns him that all bad wizards turn out from Slytherin, thereby effectively pushing him in the right direction (atleast according to Dumbles). Conveniently, Hagrid forgets to inform him how to enter the platform 9 and 3/4, making him approach the Weasleys for their help, who for one are strong supporters of Dumbledore and a family of Griffindors. Crème de la crème, they too have a son who is entering his first year at Hogwarts, and surprisingly or maybe not-so surprisingly, young Ron couldn't find a single seat in the whole train, other than the one Harry was sitting at. How subtle was that? The whole story had 'Dumbledore' written all over it.

And when he was firmly under Dumbledore's control, through his little machinations, the manipulating old man would reveal the prophecy to him under right circumstances, and poor distraught Harry would look up to the man for guidance, so as to fulfil the prophecy and the old coot would once again manipulate him to fulfil his own plans for the 'Greater Good'

Pity. Harry had neither been distraught nor had he been under Dumbledore's thumb, as the man had previously believed. He had had suspicions in the past regarding Dumbledore and had even witnessed first-hand some of his manipulations, but he had brushed it off as not a big deal. Now, only now, had he known the true extent of the codger's manipulations and had received the confirmation he had needed to prove his suspicions. Still, a small childish part of him hurt, the part which was his eleven-year old self's love for the kind, grandfatherly headmaster, before it too died abruptly, snuffed out by his more cynical and cruel side.

Harry supposed part of the blame lay with him, for turning a blind eye and allowing the old man to manipulate him. Well, no longer. His trust and respect for the Headmaster had been slowly dwindling since his fourth year. However, what bit of trust left in him for the geezer was completely wiped out now. Why, he wouldn't be surprised, if all the adventures he had had at Hogwarts had been planned afore by the man to test him out.

In truth, Dumbledore might care for him, but he cared about the 'Greater Good' even more. He might even regret manipulating him, but probably consoled himself by deeming it necessary. His intentions for the Wizarding World were laudable, true, but not by achieving it using him as a pawn. It was his fucking life, damn it!

He would show Dumbledore not to mess with him; he had trusted the headmaster and he had used him. Well, It ends now. He would not be be a pawn in his blasted game. He would get his due, Harry vowed.

Harry started feeling melancholy, once his rumination turned towards his Godfather, the only person who had truly cared about him. HIM, not the boy-who-lived or lately, the pawn. Oh, how he wished, Sirius was here with him. He had already taken a resolve that he would not weep for his loss.

Rather, he would avenge his Godfather by killing that bitch, Bellatrix Lestrange as visciously as possible. Perhaps it was time for him to investigate those Dark Arts books he had seen at the Black Library. During his stay at Grimmauld Place, he had been feeling a draw to the Dark Magic that saturated the house and he also knew that he was not just reacting to the place itself. He had felt within him, a deep yearning to grab those Forbidden books and lose himself within them, but he had reigned in his longing, as Sirius would have been seriously disappointed in him.

He wasn't naive, he knew his aura was dark which meant his nature was darker than people believed his to be. Whenever strong wandless magic was discharged from a person due to emotional instability, the person's aura would become visible around them, which is why he had left Dumbledore's office in a rush. He wasn't ready for the old coot to be on his guard against him, for he would be, once he took a look at his aura. Another thing was that, an average wizard could not discharge strong magic wandlessly. Only an exceptionally powerful wizard would be able to discharge magic strong enough that an aura appeared around them. For now, he wanted Dumbledore to underestimate him, it would only make his victory even sweeter later.

Glancing at his watch, he found the time to be 6.00 a.m. Hoping that his friends would be recovered by now, he went to visit them in the Hospital Wing.

* * *

Upon entering, he noticed that Ron and Hermione were bickering, as usual. Did they ever stop? It had been getting on his nerves lately. With a feigned smile, he waved at them. However, Ron glared at him and Hermione nodded tersely. Wondering what had crawled up their arse and died, he arched an eyebrow at them. It was Hermione who took a deep breath and started.

"It was all your fault. I warned you not to go to the Department of Mysteries, yet you did not listen. Had you listened to me, Sirius would still be alive and well. Now, because of you, he is gone and the entire blame in this, is yours. And now, you walk in like you do not have a care in the world and wave at us. Because of you, I took a nasty curse to my chest, which would have killed me and yet you smile at me, without any guilt. I am ashamed of you. How could you be so callous? Every year, you place us in one danger or another, narrowly escaping with our lives. I'm sorry, Harry, maybe I'm not, but I don't want to be friends with you any longer. I've got a future and I need to study for it"

Harry couldn't believe the nonsense she was spouting. Incensed, Harry stared right into her eyes on an impulse. Suddenly, he did not know how it happened, but he was sorting through her memories rapidly collecting information. Then it stopped. Barely a minute had passed, but he had gathered all her thoughts into a single file. Then he turned to look into Ron's eyes, where the same thing happened, when all the while the redhead was giving his own prepared speech to him, with the brunette nodding her head apparently agreeing with something the former was complaining about.

Harry was dumbfounded, to say the least. He had somehow accidentally performed legilemency. He made a mental note to himself; to analyze this new development later.

Then, Harry started processing everything he had seen inside their minds. It seemed their friendship had been nothing but a hoax.

Dear Ronald Weasley had been instructed by their Headmaster to befriend him on the train and had ordered him to support Harry in everything. In return, Ronald's career was guaranteed, along with a little pocket money every month until seventh year to buy some chocolates or trinkets. The Weasley mother hen, Molly Weasley, had been bribed by Dumbledore, with the promise of wedding her only daughter into the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Thankfully, Ginny knew nothing about this and Ron had only known about this by eavesdropping on the conversation. Molly had also been promised that all her sons would be well-settled in the future in their respective fields. And Arthur Weasley was a good man who knew nothing about this.

Hermione Granger was nothing but an ambitious witch. She had always wanted to be the friend of Harry Potter, not because she genuinely wanted to know him, but because she wanted his influence to climb up the social and political ladder. Oh yes, she wanted to become to be high-up in the ministry, with the group of underlings she could boss around. The witch had also made sure that none of the others in the school were able to approach him and make friends with him, jealous that they would also use his influence and compete with her. In their first year, the brunette had noticed him studying a lot, so she had conspired with Ron secretly, to make sure that he was always kept distracted from his studies, so that he would not end up topping her in the academics.

And in their third year, Ron had told her of Dumbledore's offer to him. Then, she had agreed with Ron to meet the Headmaster, so as to ask him to extend the offer to her as well. It had ended up in her getting two books of her choice per month, bought by the headmaster.

Well, could the day get anymore interesting, Harry mused. Betrayal after betrayal, is it ever going to end?

But, for some reason, he couldn't really dredge up enough emotions to feel sorry for himself. Oh yes, he had felt a sharp pain somewhere in his chest, when he had viewed their memories. But once he got his mind around their betrayal, he slowly thought about it. Was it really necessary to wallow in self-pity at the unfairness of the people around him? After all, he had already decided to shed his old persona from this day onwards, and being friends with them would only hold him back; because no way could they ever be seduced into the dark.

Making up his mind, Harry looked up at them. Ron was still going on,"...really, mate, they are just inflating your ego. After all, you are just an average wizard, are you not? Nothing special. You cannot beat me at Wizarding Chess either. No one can beat me, of course. You shouldn't listen to them. You are just a scrawny kid. I don't know why I was friends with you all these days. You don't even get me anything big for Christmas or my birthdays. However, had you bought me a broom, maybe...blah...blah..."

After Ron finished his babbling, Harry quickly dredged up a few tears and started pleading in a small squeaky voice," Please Ron, Hermione, don't stop being my friends. I know it's my fault. I should have listened to your superior intelligence and stayed here, Hermione. Had I listened to your infinite wisdom, Sirius would still be alive. I am so thick-headed. And Ron, I am so sorry that I am such a pathetic wizard. You are so cool; I am lucky to have such a friend like you. Please don't stop being my friends. I wouldn't what to do if you both abandon me. To make up to you both, I'll get you a Firebolt for Christmas, Ron and I'll get you 25 books, Hermione. Will that satisfy you?"

Looking at their smug and greedy faces, Harry couldn't hold in his mirth anymore and burst out laughing. Merlin's beard, could they have acted anymore subtle? Harry thought sarcastically. They had obviously wanted him to beg them, so he had decided to humour them.

Controlling his amusement, Harry glanced at their reddening faces and chuckled, "Now that I have sufficiently stroked your egos, let us move onto more pressing matters. But before that I'd like to refresh your memory, Granger. You seem to have gotten some of the facts wrong. First is, yes, you warned me that it could be a trap; so, we had double checked and the blasted thing Kreacher lied to us. So, the blame for falling into the trap lies with Kreacher and not with me. Second, I never asked you to follow me; You followed me of your own free will and you faced the consequences for it. You were stupid enough to get yourself hit by Dolohov's curse and you paid for it. So, the blame for getting yourself nearly killed lies with yourself and not me. Just wanted to get those two facts straight. And Ron, you are one very conceited arsehole. Now that all's said and done; Yes, please do; Do cancel the contract"

Looking at their confused expressions, Harry clarified," The Contract, our Friendship, two books per month for Ms. Granger and pocket money for Mr. Weasley. Ring a bell?"

Harry smirked at the horrified realization dawning on their faces. Ron had a constipated look on his face and he could practically see the wheels turning inside Hermione's mind. They had obviously planned to kill two birds with one stone; that is, they had wanted to keep their contract with the Headmaster intact and they had also wanted him to beg, so that they could graciously accept him back as their friend, once they had blackmailed him into getting something for them first.

Ron dumbly asked, " How did you know?"

Harry decided to let them stew on a lie for sometime, "Did you think you could fool me? No, I knew from the start that you were bribed by Dumbledore. I was pissed for a few days, then I shrugged it off. Bugger it, I decided, I have much better things to do. I still had some uses for you, after all. I had the resolved that, when the time came, I would drop you. After all, we weren't true friends, were we? "

Hermione replied with a small smile, "What are you talking about Harry? Of course, we are true friends. We were just bickering, weren't we Ron?", elbowing Ron in the ribs, who had been staring at Hermione slack-jawed and wide-eyed.

"Of course, mate. We both were just jiving you, I swear on Merlin's sagging sc-"

Harry interrupted before he could finish that rather ridiculous expression, "Enough. I'm no naive fool. Even if you want to be friends with me, I don't. So now that we've made that clear, I'm leaving. After all, I don't want to burden ourselves with each other's presence"

"Harry-", Granger started.

Harry had already reached the door and with his back turned towards them, he simply raised a hand halfway in farewell, "Have a good day" and left.

* * *

Harry walked out of the castle, deciding to visit the lake. He stood under the very tree where the Marauders had bullied Snape. When he had learned about what his father and Sirius had done, he had felt such righteous anger on behalf of Snape. Now, he couldn't even be irritated at them. He felt so emotionally drained.

The previous night' storm had cleared and left a bright blue sky behind. Harry climbed onto a branch and rested his back against the tree trunk, one leg hanging free underneath him.

He wasn't exactly emotionally drained, per se. He guessed his emotions were lacking intensity, save for his anger, to which he supposed, there could only be two reasons. One, he was tired of people dying on him or betraying him, so his inner self had finally decided enough was enough and had closed off his feelings; second, would be, some other thing could be at work here.

Or perhaps, it could be a combination of both.

Whatever it was, it gave him a sense of tranquillity, that he had not felt for a very long time. He had always worried, fretted, blamed himself for many things, and to be given a break to all those things was just a luxury to be enjoyed. Oh he knew, he would still very much come to care about the select people who might manage to worm his way into his heart, somewhere in the future, but he would not make it easy for them to gain his trust. He would not be fooled twice. If nothing else, he was a fast learner.

He needed to train, that much was evident. He still had one week of school left. He would have to make all the preparations necessary for him to escape from Privet Drive. He would start his planning today, once he made sure Ginny, Neville and Luna were alright; and also finding out where their loyalties lay.

His thoughts went back to Ron and Hermione, he knew he would have to deal with them again once the year started. He wished they would leave him the hell alone. Unfortunately, life couldn't be that easy, could it? They would try to latch onto him once he came back to Hogwarts for the next year, no doubt brought to task by the Headmaster. Maybe he could somehow work that in his favour. He would have to keep the Headmaster and his group of sycophants off his back without rousing any suspicion; he knew, it would make his blow all the more powerful, at the end.

Harry knew he had enough money in his vault to make sure he could buy many books to study privately. Truly, he would have quit Hogwarts too, if not for the fact that he could recruit a lot of potential followers from the student population.

Wait. WHAT? Followers? Was he trying to become a bloody Dark Lord?

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a review. Your reviews make my day ! **


	2. Chapter 2

******Disclaimer****: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made****.**

**Chapter 2**

Harry dropped down from the tree he had been napping on for the past hour and sauntered into the Great Hall for breakfast. He noticed that only a few early-risers occupied the tables, as the others were probably enjoying the post-exam bliss in their beds. Lucky bastards. Glancing around, he found Ginny, Luna and Neville sitting at the Gryffindor table, deep in some discussion. On seeing him, they waved him over. Harry nodded and neatly slid into the indicated seat.

"Are you alright , Harry?" Ginny asked with a worried expression on her face. She knew that losing Sirius would have hit Harry hard. After all, Sirius had been the father figure in Harry's life and in turn, Sirius cared for Harry as if he were his own son.

"I'm fine, Gin. How are you guys? I'm sorry you had to get involved in that with me. It's all my fault. I was so stupid to fall into that trap", Harry told them, his voice filled with regret. Actually, Harry didn't mean those last two sentences, he was only testing the waters, trying to figure out where their loyalties lay.

"Don't be stupid Harry. How could you have known that it was a trap? You even checked with Kreacher", Ginny admonished him.

"Yes, Harry. It was not your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself", Neville stated with a stern look in his eyes and Luna was nodding her head, obviously agreeing with what he was saying.

Harry felt a huge rush of relief mingled along with some gratitude. He wouldn't be losing them after all. Harry smiled at them warmly, his green eyes sparkling.

"Did you visit Hermione and Ron?" asked Neville, looking at him intently.

Harry's expression darkened at the mention of them, which did not go unnoticed by the others. "Aye. Visited them the first thing this morning", Harry spit out.

"What did they do this time?" Ginny asked, with a hint of exasperation lacing her voice as she wondered at what her brother had done.

"They betrayed me. That's what they did. They've been spying on me for Dumbledore all this time and were also getting paid to be my 'friends'", Harry said in a low tone.

"WHAT?" Ginny shrieked.

"Whoa. Calm down, Ginny. I can understand if you don't believe me, but-", Ginny cut him off before he could finish that sentence.

"No, I completely believe you, Harry. How could I not?", Ginny assured him and continued," I know Ron better than anyone else and I can assure you that the prick is entirely capable of betrayal. But how dare he betray you! And that bloody Hermione, what got into her? I thought she was alright. Stupid ambitious bint" Ginny ranted.

"Gin. Ginny. Sit down. I don't want everyone to know about this. I also want you to act as if you hadn't heard about this. I'm bidding my time, okay?"Harry told her. He also did not want her to know about her mother's betrayal of him. He would disclose that little fact, sometime in the future, to ensure that she completely turned away from her family. Or atleast her parents.

"I get it, Harry. But that doesn't mean I should like it. Merlin, how ever did that piece of shit known as Ron Weasley ended up being my brother?" No one answered her.

"Harry, did Dumbledore actually do that? And how did you know?"Neville asked with an angry expression on his face.

"Yes, Neville. I performed accidental legilemency on both of them this morning. Don't ask me how. It just happened"

Neville nodded deep in thought.

"Harry, always remember that our loyalty belongs to you first; not Dumbledore, but with you" Luna told him looking deep into his eyes. Ginny and Neville nodded solemnly at her words.

Harry nodded." Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me" And truly it did.

* * *

After that rather draining conversation, Harry climbed through the portrait hole. Thankfully, the Gryffindor tower was virtually empty. Harry entered his dorm and plopped down on his four-poster bed and closed his eyes; After a few moments of thinking, Harry got up to quickly grab a piece of parchment and quill from his bedside table and started outlining his plan for the week.

1. Research on Hogwarts Sorting ceremony and customs.

2. Take a look through the Restricted Section.

3. Find out if there are any wizarding shopping areas other than Diagon and Knocturn Alley.

4. Contact Gringotts.

5. Clean the trunk.

6. Avoid Dumbles, Ron and Hermione.

7. Go to the Chamber and see if any of theBasilisk's parts could be salvaged.

He had decided that the Basilisk's parts were very valuable to waste and had resolved to collect it the second an opportunity presented itself. In addition to that, he needed to find a place to stay this summer, as he would be escaping from Privet Drive, right under the old man's nose; Diagon Alley was too obvious, he would be found out. Really, there must be other places in the Wizarding Britain, other than the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry left for the library, knowing he had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Harry had had a busy week. He'd 'borrowed' a few books from the library; mainly on Hogwarts sorting and houses; a hazy plan had been forming in his head for some time and it would need further research. While looking through the library, he'd been horrified when he noticed just how much lax he'd been in his studies; and had vowed that he would catch up as soon as possible.

He was yet to receive a reply from Gringotts . Yesterday, he had sent a missive to the wizarding bank, enquiring whether he would be able to withdraw money from his vault, via his owl. Since, it would be rather unsafe for him to personally visit Gringotts after escaping Privet Drive; he was sure someone would report him to Dumbledore if they saw him loitering in Diagon.

All in all, it had been a constructive week; the one thing that had marred it was the appearance of Hermione and Ron yesterday.

They had made to sit beside him at the Gryffindor table during lunch; pretending that any falling out had not happened between them. Only Harry was not in the mood to indulge them, so he had stood up just as they had taken their seat on either side of him. It had been very gratifying to watch their faces heat from the blatant slur against them.

Another thing that had been eventful was the article published in the Daily Prophet. It seemed that the ministry was in a confusion on which side to take. Apparently, Fudge was reluctant to accept the truth and still claimed that the ministry had been hoodwinked; other people who were more level-headed sided with the truth.

Harry guessed that within a few months' time, the truth would be out, whether Fudge wanted it or not; because old Voldie would not remain in hiding much longer. Anyhow, all this uncertainity, along with him yelling "Voldemort is back !" during the last year, had obviously caused the majority of the Hogwarts population to side with him.

Harry was actually glad that the ministry had not confirmed that Lord Voldemort was back because this would buy him some much needed time to train and he would be ready to fight with a solid force behind him, once the war was declared publicly.

Harry slowly made his way to the Great Hall for the leaving feast; they would be leaving the castle tomorrow morning. He slid into the empty seat beside Neville and began piling large amounts of food onto his plate. He had been feeling unusually hungry lately and his appetite rivalled even that of Ron's. After polishing off half of his plate, he turned to Neville, "Where's Luna?"

" She said something about going to investigate a nest of wrackspurts", Neville muttered with a small smile.

"And you didn't go with her becauuuse?" Harry teased, noting the longing expression on Neville's face.

Neville blushed," Shush, Harry"

"Really mate, you better ask her soon. She is beautiful and some other bloke might just take her away from you. Besides, I'm pretty sure she fancies you."

Neville remained silent for a few minutes before he nodded, a determined look entering his eyes. Harry turned away, knowing that Neville would follow through his decision.

Harry discreetly scanned the Slytherin table and nearly choked on his laughter. The reason for his amusement was one Draco Malfoy who was presently sulking and glaring at him; but the entire effect was ruined by the pout the blond was sporting. On seeing him laugh, the blond huffed and turned to glare at Neville.

Harry simply shook his head and turned his attention on his nearly empty plate. During one of his ruminations, Harry had decided that he would not blame Draco and the other Death Eater children just because of their parents; he would give them a fair chance to prove themselves to him.

Just thinking about the Death Eaters made his blood pressure soar. The shoe-licking arses. And along with his anger, the slight itching on his back increased; like it had been happening on and off during the entire week. He must be developing a rash or something, Harry decided.

After finishing off his third helping of treacle tart, Harry stood up and left for his dorm after wishing Neville good night. The brunette was apparently going to wait up for Luna and Harry knew, they would be together by tomorrow.

Smirking, Harry returned to the dorm to collect his invisibility cloak and marauders map. He still had one more thing to do. He had not yet visited the Chamber. Leisurely, he began making his way, under the invisibility cloak, to the second floor Girls bathroom or better yet known as Myrtle's hideout. He quickly slid down the pipe after hissing the password. He had been expecting to get hit by the stench of rotting flesh, but surprisingly, none had come. Grimacing, Harry hastily cast a cleaning charm on himself to get rid of the muck and slime from his robes.

He began walking down the tunnel until he reached a large opening. Entering, he saw to his surprise that the Basilisk's corpse was perfectly intact as if he had only killed it yesterday. There must have been preservation and freshening charms cast on the entire chamber, Harry surmised. Harry truly marvelled at the power the founder must have had inorder for his charms to last nearly a thousand years.

After some heavy piece of spell-work, he had finally collected all the useful parts from the Basilisk along with its hide and placed it in two separate trunks before minimizing them and slipping it into his robe pocket.

Stretching his sore muscles, Harry looked around and shrugged. Figuring that since he was already down here, he could spend some time exploring the chamber. He, then, turned to face the large stone statue of Salazar Slytherin. On an impulse, he repeated what the Tom Riddle from the diary had uttered in Parseltongue.

_**"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four"**_

Indeed the mouth of the statue opened wide and he was secretly relieved that no giant snake had come rushing out. He turned his wand on his own person and began levitating himself until he was safely standing inside the mouth of the statue. The inside of the mouth was actually a very large room which had formerly been the lair of the late Basilisk. The room was filled with bones and a few empty book cases.

And again acting instinctively, he moved forward and touched the wall where the Basilisk had gouged gashes probably by lashing its tail against it. As he was running his fingers over the wall, he felt a sudden prick on his finger. Quickly withdrawing his finger, he noticed a few drops of his blood smeared on the wall. Before he could speculate anything, a silver handle appeared on the wall. Yanking it open, he strode in, his wand at the ready; only to have his jaw drop at the magnificent room he now stood in.

It was filled with piles and piles of gold and silver coins; emeralds, rubies, sapphires and numerous other priceless gems to which he did not the names of, lay in heaps. But what caught his attention was the hundreds of books occupying the silver shelves. Not even the books per se, but the language in which it was written in. Parseltongue. His breath caught at the darkness coming from some of those books.

Before he could reach out for those books, a spectre of the founder appeared in front of him. Before a blink of the eye, Harry had his wand pointed at the spectre. The founder appeared to be in his late forties, dressed in immaculate robes.

"Calm down, heir of mine. I cannot hurt you. I am just a mere spectre. I have some things to say to you."

"What? I'm not your heir. Tom Riddle is" ,Harry informed him.

"Yes, he is descended from me but that doesn't mean he is my heir. He does not possess the qualities I search for. You do. In fact, you are my descendent as well, albeit in a round-about way, which is the reason why you have the ability to speak Parsel. These are the reasons why I have deemed to accept you as my heir. Riddle is far too power hungry to do any good in this world and all he will lead to is destruction. And don't look so surprised, yes, even I want something good to happen to this world. Only I prefer to do it by using force and dark magic, which is why I have been labelled as evil"

Harry looked gobsmacked at what the founder was saying. He was related to Salazar Slytherin?

"Alright, young man. Listen up. All of the items in this room belong to you now. You are free to take anything you want from here. If you want to relocate all this into your vault, you can certainly do so"

Harry nodded and moved towards the fireplace, noticing a wooden crate placed on the carpet next to it. Harry looked into the box to find three exotic coloured eggs occupying it.

"What type of eggs are these? ",Harry asked.

"Ah. They are the three mythical serpents of the serpent lore. Actually, they aren't mythical, only very rare. I came across them quite accidently, to say the truth. The main catch is that they are very magical and won't hatch like normal eggs. Just like with the wands, they choose the wizard they find worthy and only then would they hatch. Curious, I communicated with the serpents inside the eggs and was informed by them that they were the last of their species. When, they didn't hatch for me, I safeguarded them by placing them here, hoping that maybe my heir could be chosen by them"

"And how do you know if the egg has chosen you or not?"

"You have to place your hand on them to know that"

Harry placed his palm on the sapphire blue coloured egg and it glowed red. Harry arched an eyebrow at the founder in question.

The man's face quickly broke into a large grin and said, "Yes, it has indeed chosen you. It has now started the hatching process and it will probably be over within the week or so."

Harry mirrored the look on the man's face. On instinct he placed both his palms on the remaining two eggs, a shiny black one and a jade green one, and again, they glowed red. Harry turned just in time to see Slytherin's jaw drop.

"Does that mean in a weeks' time, I am going to have three snakes slithering behind me wherever I go?" Harry asked.

"Aye lad. I am so proud of you. I couldn't have found a better heir it seems. Now , I want you to wear the Lordship ring of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin. The ring rests on the pillow floating in the middle of the room"

Harry found the indicated pillow and resting on it was a beautiful silver ring; a pair of entwined snakes constituted the band, their heads coiled around a sparkling emerald stone. Harry slowly slid the ring onto the middle finger of his right hand.

"It is beautiful, isn't it? Anyways, I have to get going now, now that I have accomplished my task. And, by the way, my heir, the bookcases outside had about a hundred books which Tom Riddle took with him when he left Hogwarts. But, not to worry. All those books have a copy of them in here. Goodbye, young Harry. Until next time, then"

"Wait. What if I have to speak with you again?" Harry asked.

"There is a portrait of me in the dungeons, hidden by a concealing charm cast on it by Dumbledore. You could find me there"

Harry nodded."Very well then. Farewell, Salazar", Harry watched as the spectre flashed out of existence.

Harry quickly emptied the bookshelves into a large trunk before he minimized it. He cast a warming charm on the serpent eggs before he also minimized the crate. Just as he was about to leave the room, a goblet filled to the brim with pretty coloured gems caught his eye. He decided to pick three colours from it- green, blue and black-which perfectly matched his three little snake eggs. Slipping them into his pocket, he quickly left the chamber by once again levitating himself out of the pipe.

* * *

Harry walked down the steps and out of Hogwarts' main doors, dragging his trunk behind him. He still couldn't believe that all those things had happened last night. Only seeing Slytherin's ring on his finger assured him that it had indeed happened and that he was the proud owner of nearly thousand books, three yet-to-be-hatched mythical serpents and a vast fortune. Harry had charmed the ring using a parsel spell from the book, so that it was only visible to his eyes; Not even Moody could look through the glamour surrounding the ring.

Just then, Harry spotted the carriage and hauled his trunk into it. He was quickly followed by his fellow Hufflepuffs, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott.

"Hey there, Harry", Ernie patted his shoulder.

Harry smiled. "Hi Ernie. All right there?"

"Eh...yes" They made some small talk until they reached the Hogwarts express but it was clear that there was something weighing on their minds. Harry decided not to push them, they would tell him if they wanted to.

However, before he could get down from the carriage, they stopped him. Harry arched a questioning eyebrow, Ernie took a deep breath and started, "Harry, we know that you faced Him at the Department of Mysteries and that the ministry is trying to hush it up. Also talks of a prophecy regarding you and Yo-Vo-Voldemort are going around, I think we can guess at what it might say. But what I wanted to really say is that, I want you to please remember that you can count on us in anything you might want to do; we will stand by you, no matter what. I know that you have distanced yourself from Ron and Hermione, because of something they must have done to you; but you must remember that they aren't your only friends. I admit we have had our differences in the past, but I want to assure you that it won't be happening again in the future. We will remain loyal to you; come hell or high water. I swear that on Hufflepuff's badger of loyalty."

Harry felt an onslaught of emotions as he heard those words; swearing on their House's loyalty was one of the highest form of loyalty a Hogwartian could give. He could think upon various scenarios that it could be put to good use. Harry grinned at them and nodded. " I will make sure to remember that. And I think I might just take you up on your offer sooner than you might think."

After waving them good-bye, Harry boarded the train and found himself an empty compartment. Using a nifty spell he'd learnt, he locked the door charmed only to open for Neville, Ginny and Luna.

After half-an-hour, the trio entered the compartment, completely out of breath. Harry nodded at them and went back to the book he was reading. It was a useful book on "Pureblood customs, practices and etiquette" He'd always been fascinated with the purebloods' ways; especially the slytherins'. They just seemed to know so much about their history. When he had tried to talk to Ron about it, the redhead always brushed him off saying that it was all bollocks. But, now, Harry wondered if the weasel had just wanted him to remain in the dark; feeling secretly pleased that he had known something that Harry didn't. Anyhow, since Harry had decided to be independent, he saw no reason to deny himself his interests.

Neville and Ginny immediately began playing a game of Exploding snap with Luna cheering for Neville; it was clear that Neville had indeed asked Luna out, if the small smiles that were exchanged was any indication.

Nearly, an hour later, someone started banging on their compartment door; it was Granger and Weasley. Harry sneered. Won't they ever give up?

Hermione smugly pulled out her wand and tried to open the door; feeling superior in the knowledge that she would be able to break any spell he had cast on the door; only to find that the door wouldn't budge. The look on her face was priceless. After waving her wand for some odd minutes, she left, dragging Ron by the sleeve of his shirt , her face flushed red.

Shortly afterwards, Ginny left to meet with Dean. Apparently, she had promised to spend some time with him in his compartment. Luna immediately engaged Neville in a game of Horn's trumpet. According to her explanation, he gathered that the opponents must make loud trumpeting noises after swallowing a grey looking mushy substance, which apparently made the person to have a trunk of some magical creature, instead of a nose. The person who trumpeted the loudest was the winner.

Hearing this, Harry sighed. It seemed people were determined on not letting him read in silence. He discreetly pulled out his wand and pointed at the pair of them and murmured a charm that made a sound bubble appear around the duo. There. That would do the trick. Now, they could make all the noises they wanted, he would remain blissfully unaware.

Neville, noticing this, sent a sheepish smile in his direction and mouthed 'sorry'. Harry simply smirked at him and went back to his reading.

Just as he was about to finish the book, Harry was interrupted by a pecking sound on the glass window. Harry peered at the window and noticed a great horned owl on the other side of it. He immediately stood up and opened the latch that had the window tightly shut. The owl quickly swooped into the compartment and perched on the rack. He knew the owl belonged to Gringotts from the seal on the letter attached to its leg.

Harry approached the owl and untied the letter from its leg. Hastily breaking open the seal, Harry started reading,

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We here at Gringotts send our deepest condolences for your loss. In response to the question you posed, we would like to inform you that the option you asked for is available, among others. However, we also wanted to notify you that you have been requested to attend a meeting at Gringotts, in matters regarding your familial heritage. We would like to advise you that it would be in your best interests if you were to make this a high priority event, as it deals with certain urgent and delicate matters._

_Please apprise us the date and time of your visit with the Gringotts owl._

_Regards, Silvertongue, Gringotts account manager #1_

Looking up, Harry noticed that the owl was indeed waiting for his reply. He opened his trunk and offered the bird some of Hedwig's owl treats and water.

Harry began pondering on the issue at hand, slightly worried at the urgency he could practically feel in the letter. And what was this about his familial heritage? He didn't have any heritage, did he. Other than being the Lord of Slytherin, which was only because Salazar had wanted him to be so. He had always assumed that, even though his father had been a pureblood, they were only moderately well-off. After all, from what he had heard, they had been living in a cottage at Godric's Hollow.

Curiosity prickled under his skin. He wanted to find out what all of this was about; at the same time, he also did not want to be found out by the order. He could always use the invisibility cloak, he reasoned.

Making up his mind, he hastily scribbled out his reply,

_Gornun Silvertongue,_

_I will arrive at Gringotts by 3 p.m. this evening. Since I do not want to be noticed by anyone, I will be under my invisibility cloak, waiting for you near the 'Thief's Downfall' saying. From there, you could lead me to the meeting place._

_Regards,_

_Harry James Potter_

After sending his letter, Harry settled himself in his seat and proceeded to finish the book he had been reading.

* * *

From the outside scenery, Harry could tell that they would be reaching Kings Cross Station very soon. He placed the book back in his trunk and glanced towards the cuddling pair, sitting opposite of him. It had been hilarious to watch the both of them panic when their trunks refused to rephase to their original form; well, atleast Neville had panicked, while Luna had just started petting on her nose-sorry-trunk and saying how pretty she looked with it. Thankfully, the trunks had faded back after some cajoling from Luna.

Finally, the Hogwarts express stopped, Harry stood up and stretched.

"Hey, you two. Break up. I'm sure you'll have all the time in the world to snog during your summer. Because we have to leave now."

Neville just laughed, while Luna looked up at him dreamily and said, "Jealous,Harry? Don't worry. You'll find someone to snog and fornicate too. In the future."

Harry refused to blush at that comment and stuttered out a ' Thanks, Luna' with a 'Have a great summer, you guys' and quickly escaped from the compartment dragging his trunk behind him.

Really, someone needed to control that mouth of hers. Grinning, Harry stepped out onto the platform and instantly noticed a small herd of redheads milling about some ways away. He swiftly blended in with the crowd and made his way towards the barrier, tactfully avoiding them.

Harry mentally patted himself on having escaped the Weasel Mother Hen. He would have liked to meet the twins to gauge their alliances, but, unfortunately, that had to wait. Since, he would have no doubt cursed the Weasley matriarch if she had spoken to him. Perhaps, hers was the most stinging betrayal of all, since he had truly come to look up to her as a surrogate mother. Shaking his head of all those painful thoughts, he swiftly crossed the barrier.

The first thing Harry noticed when he emerged out of the barrier separating Platform Nine and Three Quarters was his beloved uncle who was rather conspicuous with his walrus sized body; and attached to his arm was his dear aunt Petunia, and hiding behind her and failing miserably at that was none other his favourite cousin, Big D; all of whom were looking suspiciously at something towards his right side.

With a dawning understanding, Harry agilely spun on his heel toward his right and saw the small group that had been standing to the side of the barrier, comprising of Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, Tonks and Mr. Weasley.

Harry managed to hide his grimace just in time. Instead, he sent a small smile toward them and waved.

"Wotcher, Harry" greeted Tonks.

"What are you people doing here?" quizzed Harry. He was, in fact, very curious about what they were doing here. He wondered why Remus wasn't with them. Harry had a passing thought that maybe Remus placed the blame on him, just like the others. As quickly as that thought had come, he just as quickly banished it. He would not unnecessarily worry until he knew the truth.

"We just came to send you off Harry. And also to speak to those relatives of yours" replied Mr Weasley.

"Indeed. That'll be them, then?", Moody asked pointed towards the Dursleys.

"Yes. But I don't think its such a good idea", Harry told him.

However, they proceeded to ignore him and made their way to the huddling Dursleys. Harry was furious, to say the least. There they go again, Harry mused. They never listened to what he had to say. As far as they were concerned, he was just an over-emotional teenager.

He didn't want them to threaten the Dursleys. It would not sit well with his plans at all. Since, all this would only make the Dursleys that much harder to convince later, damn it !

Once the order had finished their threatening, they asked him to promise that he would write a letter at least once in three days. Thinking fast, Harry informed them that perhaps he would write them a letter once a week. Unless, it was Mad-Eye guarding the house, he would have atleast one week before the Order noticed him missing.

Waving them good-bye, Harry followed the Dursleys out of the railway station.

* * *

Harry watched in fascination as his uncle's flabby face, in the rear-view mirror, changed colours at a rather alarming rate; a large, ugly, purple vein throbbing on his forehead. Harry wondered if all this would cause the man to have a stroke or something. Harry sure hoped so.

True, he had been furious when the Order members had threatened the Dursleys without consulting him first; but, Harry had to admit that he was certainly enjoying the outcome of it.

Harry observed his uncle as the man's beady little eyes frequently darted to look at him in the rear-view mirror. He was obviously concocting some plan to torment him during the summer or perhaps, he was just plain scared that he would transfigure Dudley into his natural form of a pig.

Atleast Dudley seemed to be following that train of thought, for he had his pudgy hands firmly gripping his bottom, looking at him from the corner of his eyes and trying to sit as far from him as possible, which wasn't saying much because he nearly occupied three-quarters of the back seat. Ever so slowly, Harry pulled out his wand from his pocket and casually started twirling it in between his fingers, looking at Dudley sideways.

Dudley immediately paled and squeaked. "Mu-Mum!" Petunia slowly twisted her giraffe look-alike neck in his direction to glare at him. Harry arched an eyebrow at her and dismissed them both. He opted to look out the window rather than watch the three peculiar beings occupying the car with him.

After more than half an hour of blaring horns and traffic, Harry was grateful when Vernon stopped his car in front of the house. Harry had been positively itching to curse some of the muggle pedestrians who appeared right in front of the car, seemingly out of thin air, causing Vernon to abruptly slam the brakes, which in turn made the fat lump that was Dudley land on him. Harry had a feeling that he was doing it rather intentionally. After the third time Dudley had tried to squish him, Harry had pointed his wand right in between Dudley's eyes; after which the lard had stuck to his own side of the seat rather than on his lap. Another thing was that, as if on par with his anger, the constant itch on his back had been fluctuating from hot to cold and vice-versa. Perhaps, he should take a look at his back when he came in contact with a mirror next time. He had never heard of rashes developing temperatures.

Harry got out of the car and immediately noticed Tonks, who was hiding behind the 6-feet tall oakleaf hydrangea bush, with her hair colour charmed to be a green that matched the bush she was hiding behind.

Tonks was a great auror, true; but she was completely lacking in the Stealth and Tracking department, Harry knew from experience. She was quite young and naive. Maybe he could try to steal her from the bumbling fool's clutches. She could be a spy within the order. Harry made a mental note to himself to consider the idea at a later date.

Well, for now, it would be a piece of cake to escape under her nose. Thank Merlin, that it had not been Moody who was the watchdog.

Harry quickly followed the Dursleys into the house, knowing that they would lock him out to just spite him. Not that that would stop him. It was just that Harry was simply not going to waste his time fighting with them; especially when he would be leaving in a few short hours.

Harry swiftly dragged his trunk upstairs and sneered at the cat-flap and locks adorning his door. Pushing it open, he placed Hedwig's cage on the table near the window and quickly emptied the contents of the trunk onto the bed; thankfully, he'd cleaned his trunk at Hogwarts. Otherwise, it would have taken hours together to get rid of all the debris that had accumulated in his trunk all these years.

Now, all Harry had to do was separate the items into two piles; one, he would be taking with him while the other would be put back into the trunk. Harry pulled out a rucksack and placed the books he had nicked from the library inside the bag, which was then followed by his invisibility cloak, photo album and the knife which Sirius had given him; he caressed it affectionately before placing it gently inside wrapped in a soft velvet cloth.

The knife had melted when he had tried to open a room at the DoM, but after a few days, when Harry had been packing his trunk, he had found that the melted knife had regained its original shape. Harry could only guess that it was some sort of inherent magic that the blade of the knife must have been imbued with, making it virtually impossible to destruct.

Subsequently, he filled the rucksack with the miniaturized boxes of Basilisk potion ingredients, Basilisk hide, Parsel books, and the serpent eggs along with the small pouch containing the three gems he had taken from the chamber. Then, he drew the drawstrings firmly shut.

After having changed into a set of fresh clothes, Harry put the pile on the bed back inside the trunk, figuring that the Order would make sure that the trunk would be returned to him. Grabbing some muggle money along with his Gringotts key, Harry flung the rucksack onto his shoulders and made his way to open the door; only to be stopped by an indignant hoot coming from the other side of the room.

"_Shite!_ ", Harry cussed. He had completely forgotten Hedwig. Slowly, he turned to face her with a sheepish smile and was graced with an annoyed look.

Harry approached the table and crouched low to meet her at eye-level. "Sorry girl. I was in a bit of a hurry. Forgive me?" Harry asked with an innocent look in his eyes.

Hedwig hooted imperiously. "Promise not to bite me?" Hedwig huffed and hid her face under her wing. Harry had enough scars on him to make him remember that Hedwig was a vicious biter. Not so surprisingly, Hedwig was refusing.

Harry smirked. "Fine. Be like that. But I'm not letting you out until you promise not to bite me. I've got time" Harry stood up and made a show of settling himself comfortably in his chair.

After about five minutes of being on the receiving end of Hedwig's death glares, Harry thought that if looks could kill, he would have been five times under by now. Then finally, Hedwig hooted in acceptance. At Last.

With a smug look, Harry opened her cage, and she immediately took flight to land on his shoulder; her claws digging into his skin. Petting her head fondly, Harry instructed her," I want you to return to me in two days' time. Make sure that no one are following you when you find me. Be discreet and Fly safe. I won't lose you too, Hed".

Hedwig hooted in understanding. She knew that her master had suffered a lot in his life and she would not make him suffer by getting herself killed. Not that anyone could kill her, of course. After all, she was the Queen of the skies, the fair and beautiful Hedwig. And she would peck all those who dared harm her human, to death.

Hedwig nuzzled her master's cheek affectionately and nipped his ear, maybe a bit too hard, but it wasn't a bite . She had not broken her promise. She had not drawn blood, had she?

With a joyous hoot, she flew out through the window and took off into the sky.

Harry marvelled at his familiar's beauty as her feathers shone a brilliant silvery white under the sun. Once she was out of sight, Harry sighed and made his way down the stairs.

First thing, he noticed on entering the living room was that Vernon and Petunia were engaged in a furious spat, while Dudley remained oblivious to his surroundings, watching the television slack-jawed with a bit of drool escaping from the corner of his mouth. Harry shuddered in disgust. Filthy pig.

Turning his focus onto the still verbally sparring duo, Harry gleefully thought, "Trouble in Paradise?" Not wanting to interrupt, or Merlin Forbid, stop their altercation, Harry settled down without making a sound.

After about ten minutes of delightful entertainment for Harry, Vernon took a deep breath and casually glanced around; not having expected him there, he did a sudden double-take and started sputtering, "You-you-" Petunia turned to the source, wondering what could have caused her husband to have such a violent reaction; only to see her nephew lounging lazily on the sofa, watching them with a gleeful expression and an unholy gleam in his eyes. Petunia started reddening; making her look like some weird plucked chicken, in Harry's opinion; in embarrassment at the thought that the boy had seen her fighting and had obviously taken some perverse enjoyment in watching them argue. She shuddered.

Vernon, meanwhile, had regained his breath and yelled out, "Boy ! How dare you show your face down here? "

" We need to talk ", Harry stated, wiping his face clear of any expression.

"Not bloody likely. This is my house and WILL not be taking orders from the likes of you, boy" Vernon growled out.

"I said we need to talk. So sit.", Harry repeated more forcefully. If he said 'boy' one more time...

"NO boy !"

"SIT" Harry yelled, his magic moving like a whiplash, pushing Vernon into his armchair. "And if you call me 'boy' one more time, I will personally make sure that it will be the last word you will ever speak. Understood?"

Vernon nodded dumbly.

"Good. Now, I'll be leaving this house but I don't want the Order to know that I have left. I want you to fool the order as long as you can manage, into making them believe that I've been skulking inside my room or with some such excuses"

"And why should we do that for you? And why are you running away?" Petunia asked.

Harry sneered. "If you don't, then they'll find me and bring me back here. You don't want me here, do you? If I could buy myself some time however, I'll be long gone and they won't be able to find me until the 1st of September. As for my running away, it is none of your business. But since, you asked so pleasantly, I'll answer you. It is me stating my Independence from them. I will not allow those sodding idiots to dictate my life"

"Fine. We will do it. You better be grateful for all the sacrifices we make for you" , declared an obviously recovered Vernon, very glad that this would be the last they would be seeing of the boy.

Harry snorted derisively. Riiight.

"What should we say when they eventually find out that you were not here all along? What if they try to harm us?"

"Just tell them that I wanted to be on my own and that I had asked them not to look for me; that I will meet them at King's Cross on September 1st. Oh, tell them to collect my trunk which is in the bedroom. And don't worry, they won't harm you or anything. They're way too pathetic and cowardly to harm a muggle"

"And will this be the last time we will be seeing you, bo-potter?"

Not bloody likely. They will be seeing him one more time in the future, if he had his way. "Maybe. Maybe not. You never know. So better be prepared" Harry warned them cryptically.

Picking up his rucksack, Harry flung the invisibility cloak around him and coolly walked out through the front door. Harry felt a small amount of sympathy for Tonks; a very miniscule small amount, mind you; who would be feeling some heat from the Order members, for having allowed him to escape under her watch. Harry shrugged his shoulders. Whatever.

Harry reached the front gate and turned around to consider the square house he had spent the better half of his life in. Harry suddenly smirked darkly. Oh yes, he would be returning one last time. No doubts there, Harry decided.

After all, he hadn't thanked them properly for the generous and affectionate upbringing they had given him. Surely, it would be blasphemous if he didn't repay them in kind, would it not?

On that positive note, Harry started walking towards the nearest bus stand with a decidedly malicious look in his eyes.

* * *

A/N: I know the storyline might be a bit cliche, but what can I say? I'm rather addicted to them. So, I'm just indulging myself. To all those who love these type of dark Harry fics, I hope you are not disappointed with it. I try my best. Please leave a review on what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcomed. And flames will be banished to hell. lol.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed or favourited or followed! It really encourages me.

**Chapter 3**

After getting down from the bus at a stop near the Leaky Cauldron, Harry quickly made his way to the dingy pub. Although before entering it, Harry discreetly made sure that none of the muggles were watching him and swiftly covered himself with his invisibility cloak . He pushed the door open and took one step into the pub before his nose was assaulted with the smell of Firewhiskey and other vile concoctions. He could see a hag nursing a large glass filled with a bubbling acidic green liquid that had something suspiciously looking like fingernails floating in it. Harry nearly gagged from seeing the contents in it.

Harry hastily turned his eyes away from the revolting drink and glanced around the pub to see if he could spot any of the Order members present in the vicinity. The first Order member he spotted was a red-faced Dedalus Diggle who, to Harry's immense surprise, was squabbling furiously with a middle-aged woman whom Harry did not know the name of. He had always assumed Dedalus Diggle to be a soft-spoken man, perhaps a tad bit easily excited. He did not know the woman's name but he had seen her a few times at Grimmauld Place, so he figured she was an Order member as well.

Thinking quickly, Harry firmly shoved his morals to the side and decided to eavesdrop on their conversation. Morality was nothing but a hindrance, Harry decided cynically. Harry had guessed that there was an even fifty percent chance that they could be arguing something Order related. Silently, he sidled next to the pair of them.

" I tell you, Hestia, what he is trying to do is not right" Dedalus Diggle insisted.

Hestia made a placating gesture with her hand and said," I know that Dedalus, but what else can we do?"

" But it's unfair to the boy", Diggle growled with an angry expression on his face. "And he is such a sweet boy too", he muttered to himself.

Hestia shushed Diggle and continued in a quieter voice, " Life is unfair, Ded. We must all make sacrifices and this is the boy's turn. That's all "

Diggle shook his head with a stubborn expression on his face. " How can you say that? That boy has made enough sacrifices, Hestia. There is no need for more. I still believe that what we are going to do is not right. At the least, we must ask the boy's permission. We are violating his trust"

Hestia simply opted not to discuss the topic anymore further. They were in a rather public place and they had already discussed much more than it was safe to discuss outside of warded doors.

Harry silently left the duo with a contemplative expression on his face, once it was apparent that they were not going to be discussing any more Order business.

From the 'boy' Dedalus Diggle had mentioned, Harry knew he could safely assume that the 'boy' they were referring to, was himself. But who was this 'he'? Harry could only think of one person who would violate his trust and make the others think that it was the right thing to do too. Harry sneered. Albus Dumbledore. Really the man had no boundaries, did he?

Well, whatever he was trying to do, Harry was going to put an end to it once he knew what was exactly going on. Harry's thoughts drifted to the concerns voiced by Dedalus Diggle. Perhaps he could try to manipulate him to sympathize with his plight for freedom with a few crocodile tears. Harry smirked at the thought. Really. It was blatantly obvious that the man had a soft spot for him; he could capitalize on that. Harry really needed someone in the Order on his side to spy for him. For now, there were two potential candidates; Tonks and Diggle. Perhaps, Remus too. He still didn't know where he stood in all of this.

Harry stood patiently in the small, walled courtyard of the pub, waiting for someone to tap on the stone bricks so that the archway could open. Just then, a portly witch holding a cat entered and did exactly that. Harry quickly slipped around the witch and entered the alley and gasped. The twisting cobbled street was bustling with people doing their shopping and hardly an inch of space was left free for a person to move undetected. How on earth was he going to get to the bank?!

Scowling, Harry navigated the crowd occupying the streets. Damn Goblins. Harry clenched and unclenched his hands. Cursing the people won't help a thing, Harry sternly told himself. Really, how come so many people wanted to shop at the same time?

When he'd assumed that he would hide under the invisibility cloak, he'd never taken into account the difficulty it would present for him to make his way through a crowded alley-way. His cloak was pulled and prodded in all directions; he was slightly scared that it would tear or something. Thankfully, no one bothered to check the invisible body moving among them. After all, weird things were a common occurrence in the wizarding world. Why, even now, he could see wizards like Mundungus Fletcher selling potions that had a person grow a third arm whose effect lasted for an entire hour.

* * *

Harry grinned. Finally. He looked upon the towering snow-white building that was Gringotts and could spot a pair of goblins standing guard at the burnished bronze doors. Harry swiftly climbed the marble white stone steps and silently slipped past the guards. The entrance led to an ante-chamber that had a set of solid silver doors facing him.

He made to stand beside the silver doors and glanced at his watch. Harry groaned. He was 15 minutes early. Usually, it would not have been a bad thing , only the goblins were anything but punctual, and they wouldn't arrive a minute early or a second too late. Sighing, Harry looked at the words engraved on the doors.

_**Enter, stranger, but take heed**_

_**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**_

_**For those who take, but do not earn,**_

_**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**_

_**So if you seek beneath our floors**_

_**A treasure that was never yours,**_

_**Thief, you have been warned, beware**_

_**Of finding more than treasure there.**_

Huh. That was very informative, Harry observed. It obviously indicated the security measures that were in place for the intruders which just made Harry all the more wonder what they were. He had never seen anything out of place during the cart ride to his vault. So, the security must be for the older purebloods' vaults, Harry surmised.

Just then, Harry caught sight of Moody approaching the entrance doors. _Shite_, Harry cursed and ducked into a crook in the side wall. Thankfully, Moody did not notice him and entered the main chamber through the silver double doors. Harry slowly let out the breath he had been holding. It would have been rather degrading had he been caught by that paranoid bastard.

Harry slowly moved to a corner and slanted his shoulders against the wall. Now, he had a clear view of the people entering the bank as well as the people exiting the bank through the silver doors.

Just when he was about to doze off; he hadn't slept a wink the previous night what with his sojourn to the Chamber of Secrets and all; Harry caught sight of a platinum blonde head a.k.a. Draco Malfoy, dressed in impeccable black robes, leaving the bank with a house-elf in tow. When the blond had descended the steps, Harry was pleasantly surprised to see Malfoy waiting for his house-elf to catch up with him. And when the elf toppled in its haste and fell on the hard ground, he was even more surprised to see Draco enquiring whether it was okay. Harry had simply assumed that Malfoy would just ignore it and expect it to pick itself up and follow him. It seemed that the blond ferret had grown up without him knowing. How was that possible? Harry wondered. He always kept tabs on Draco Malfoy.

As if hearing Harry's thoughts, Draco's shoulders stiffened and he slowly turned to face the bank . His eyes began searching for something only he knew and those mercury eyes passed the spot where Harry was hiding several times. After a few minutes, Draco swiftly turned on his heel and left. Within minutes, he was lost in the crowd. Harry sighed and leaned his head back on the wall.

* * *

At exactly 3 pm, a stocky goblin fitted out in a pinstripe suit stepped outside of the silver doors and casually made to stand beside it. If anyone noticed an extra goblin guarding the doors, they thought nothing of it. Harry slowly approached the goblin and quietly asked "Are you Gornun Silvertongue?"

The goblin glanced in the general direction of where he was standing and nodded imperceptibly. Then, Silvertongue turned on his heel and swiftly entered the spacious white marble hall. There was a long counter on one side of the hall where nearly a hundred goblins sat on high stools behind it. On the other side, there were innumerable doors leading off the hall to God knows where.

Just when Harry was guessing the door they were about to enter, Silvertongue made for the door marked with the number 1. Yet another pair of goblins wearing uniforms of black and silver stood outside, guarding the door. However, unlike the other goblins, these two were equipped with weaponry; the pointy-nosed goblin was holding an axe in his hand while the other one was gripping a spear.

Harry wondered what he would do if they chose to attack him that instant. He quickly reassured himself by patting the wand residing in his pocket. Then out of nowhere, he was suddenly hit by the question of what he would do if he, just in case, ever lost his wand during a battle and immediately grimaced at the thought.

Merlin, he was pathetic. He really needed to train. But, when he thought of all the training ahead of him, Harry couldn't help but feel slightly depressed. He was very excited, true, but he was nonetheless slightly depressed at all the hard work that he would need to put in after 5 whole years of lazing around. Oh, he wasn't scared that he would slack off because he would not. Once he made up his mind, he would not easily be deterred. Besides, he had no idea of how he was going to learn so much within three months' time. Maybe he could try to find a time-turner in some of the illegal stores in Knockturn Alley. That would surely buy him an additional three months' time to train.

Harry breathed deeply. He would find something; he always did, Harry assured himself. With that in mind, Harry focused on the conversation that was taking place before him in rapid Gobbledegook. Harry could understand some of the words the goblins were saying, since in a burst of impulsive curiosity during his fourth year, he had decided to learn Gobbledegook. Only it had lasted for a month or so, before Hermione had admonished him for wasting his time to learn a not-so-necessary language. Only now, Harry knew it was just her jealousy speaking.

Finally, Silvertongue pushed the door open and paused for a few moments to allow him to slip inside. Harry glanced around the ornate room he was currently ensconced in. It had an high arched ceiling and the stone walls were decorated with paintings that depicted the Goblin wars on one side while the other side of the wall had rows and rows of portraits, all of them featuring aged goblins attired in flowing robes, not much unlike the wizarding robes; the floor was covered in a thick gold carpet that had an oriental design on it. And sitting behind an elaborate mahogany desk was a wizened old goblin with wise black eyes, clad in sky blue robes. He had long white hair that was tied with a gold ribbon.

"You may remove your cloak, Mr. Potter", stated Silvertongue who had entered the room after him.

Harry slid off the cloak from around his shoulders and turned to face Silverhook expectantly.

"Please take a seat, Mr. Potter. This is the Chief Goblin Fireclaw who is the Head of the Gringotts Bank as well as one of the Elders of the Goblin Nation"

Harry inclined his head respectfully in the Elder goblin's direction before he took the indicated seat. He already knew that the Goblin Nation was led by a council of twelve Elders although he was slightly surprised to know that the Head of Gringotts was an Elder. " It is an honour to meet you, Gornunuk Fireclaw. But, what is it that has had you request me to attend this meeting?" Harry asked.

Harry could tell that the Chief goblin was very pleased when he addressed him with the goblin honorific. " It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Potter. However before we begin, I must request you to allow us to take a look at your back", the Elder goblin told him.

"And why is that?" Harry was immediately on the defensive. For all he knew, this could be some sort of trap set by his enemies and when his back was turned, they would probably stab him. The only thing that stopped him from pulling out his wand was that, he did not want to insult the Elder Goblin and also he had a feeling of safety radiating from Fireclaw.

" Because we're bound by the oath not to reveal any secrets to you unless you bear the mark on your back", Fireclaw informed him.

Harry sighed. He couldn't help but think that they were speaking the truth. He also knew that whatever it is they were searching for, was most probably on his back. It must have something to do with the weird itching on his back for the past week. Harry stood up and unbuttoned his shirt before sliding it off completely. He wasn't particularly embarrassed with his body. Due to his overly large clothing, many assumed him to be on the thin side. No, instead, he was lean muscled and slightly tan from all the quidditch practices for the past 5 years. Although, he was slightly disgruntled with the fact that he was one of the shortest blokes in his year. But, Sirius had assured him that he would hit his growth spurt in his seventh year, just like his father. Harry could only hope.

Harry slowly turned and displayed his back to the two eagerly waiting goblins to which the response he got in turn was a gasp and a gleeful chuckle which made Harry wonder as to what exactly was on his back. In his haste, he had completely forgotten to check his back in the mirror, as he'd promised himself he would do.

Harry looked at the Chief goblin from over his shoulder and arched an eyebrow in a silent question. Fireclaw just conjured two mirrors out of thin air and angled the mirrors so that the reflection of his back in the first mirror was in turn reflected on the second mirror placed in front of him. What he saw indeed took him by surprise but Harry didn't let any emotions show on his face. There was a beautiful tattoo done in black ink adorning his back. It was a stunning combination of intricate designs done inside an elaborate oval frame and the oval frame in turn was engulfed in swirling flames on both sides. The flames started from just above the small of his back and ended in a swirling tip a few inches below his neck. If he looked closely, he could make out a few letters written in a language he wasn't familiar with, inside the frame among the designs. However, the most enthralling effect was the way the flames seemed to shimmer and move whenever he slightly changed his position.

" What does this mark mean?", Harry enquired.

"It means that you are one of the chosen ones. But the question remains. Will you be able to make it unlike the others? " Fireclaw muttered the last sentence to himself.

Harry quickly put on his shirt and reoccupied his chair. He was very curious to know what the tattoo was all about. He had heard that comment about 'chosen ones' and he was slightly exasperated with this new development. Really. Could anymore weird crap happen to a person?

"Mr. Potter, you must be wondering about the mark on your back. Tell me, Mr. Potter, how much do you know of your family history?"

"Well, as far as I know, the Potters are an old pureblood family whose origins date back to the early 12th century", Harry recited the only piece of fact he knew about his family.

" I see. Please follow me, Mr. Potter, this may take a long time to explain. Silvertongue, you may remain here, if you wish, since you've already heard the story numerous number of times since your childhood"

Silverclaw simply nodded and began ruffling through some documents he'd brought with him.

The Chief goblin rose and made to stand beside a metal door which had been previously hidden from view with the help of some warding charms Harry supposed. Fireclaw ran a long fingernail along a vein in the intricately designed door.

Harry quickly followed him into the side-room. This room was just as elegant as the former room he had been in. Only it had an unused air about it. Without wasting time, Fireclaw immediately led him to the first painting on the wall and allowed Harry to observe it for some time.

The painting obviously depicted a meeting hall where rows and rows of seats were raised around a circular podium. However, the most interesting and unbelievable thing in the painting was that the meeting room was not just filled with wizards. Instead, the wizards were in conjunction with various magical creatures like vampires, goblins, werewolves, centaurs, merpeople, veelas, leprechauns, etc. From the arrangement, it was blatant that both creatures and humans were involved in some sort of political discussion.

Harry was shell-shocked at what the goblin was showing him. Surely this was not real. It just meant that a painter somewhere had an over-active imagination.

"No, Mr. Potter. I know you are thinking that this is just a fantasy painting, but that is not the case here. This is the hard truth of how it was once. Both creatures and wizards were given equal rights back then and were allowed to participate in the government. All magical creatures had a spokesman present on their behalf in the House of Magical Beings"

Harry turned to look at the painting once more with undisguised awe on his face. He simply couldn't wrap his mind around the concept.

"It wasn't the 'Wizarding World' back then", the goblin said, disdain dripping from his words."It was recognized as the Magical World. There was no Wizengamot or the House of Lords, where only wizards are allowed to participate. No, it was the House of Magical Beings where any and all creatures that had the ability to speak were allowed to be present"

"And there was no discrimination against the creatures?", Harry asked.

" No. The wizards were afraid of incurring the wrath of the Dark Ones"

"Dark Ones?" Harry couldn't help but think that the name was a bit pretentious.

In answer to his question, Fireclaw pointed him to the next painting. There were four people in it- two men and two women- all of whom were exceptionally beautiful but the most captivating thing was their eyes. It did not have any white surrounding the pupils. Instead, the whole eye was a swirling pool of vibrant colour.

"The Dark Ones were the rulers of the magical world. They were a combination of creature and human. As hard as they tried, they could not remember how they came into existence. It would always remain a mystery to them. So, they called themselves the 'Dark Ones' for they were masters in the Dark Arts; it came as easily as breathing to them. In addition to that, they were immortal. They maintained peace and bred equality among the magical beings. Both Dark magic and Light Magic was respected and practiced by everyone" Fireclaw began pointing to each of the figures and told him their names.

The tallest crimson-haired man with midnight black eyes was Agron. He had his arm wrapped around a slightly shorter man who had raven-coloured hair with glowing silver eyes known as Javed. Standing slightly apart from them was a blond haired woman with sea blue eyes called Galena who was enfolded in the arms of a taller dark haired woman with amber eyes known as Seshafi.

And all of them radiated power. No wonder they were able to rule the magical world, Harry thought.

" After a long reign of peace, nearly 5000 years ago, a wizard named Aeron was born. He was not powerful but he was very sly and had the ability to move crowds with his words. So, when a few rogue creatures killed his sister, he started revolting against the Dark Ones in secret. He started spouting propaganda and the like. Within a few short years, almost all of the wizards rallied to his side. However, what sealed the wizards victory was his highly underhanded move.

You see, the Dark Ones were very powerful, true, but even they had a weakness. Their son, Cailean O'Dorchaidhe. It is a Gaelic name which means 'young warrior- descendant of the Dark One'. Since the four of them were attracted to their own gender, they were not able to procreate. So, they performed a dark ritual to create a wizard child with their genes. Aeron kidnapped 5-year old Cailean and threatened to kill him if the Dark Ones didn't kill themselves. Now, this is where we come to the series of events that had been set in motion that has resulted in your mark."

Harry unknowingly leaned forward, very much caught up in the story.

" The Dark Ones decided that they wouldn't let their death be in vain. So, after receiving the oath that Cailean wouldn't be harmed after their death, they fearlessly killed themselves by slitting their throats. After their deaths, Aeron quickly secured victory in a short span of time. He followed that by setting laws that declared the magical creatures to be beneath wizards and the use of Dark Magic illegal. He also destroyed each and every record that had any mention of the Dark Ones. These paintings are one of the only records present that could be secretly salvaged from those times. He was the person who founded the Ministry of Magic and named himself the First Minister of Magic.

However, the prohibition of Dark Magic led to a great many number of wars among the wizards themselves, giving rise to Dark Lords, but none of them ever fought for the freedom of the Creatures. We, creatures, were treated as vermin and were only barely tolerated by them. When, in truth, the magical creatures were the ones who came into existence prior to the Wizards, but somehow, they always fail to remember that fact"

Harry could feel his blood boiling when he thought of this Aeron person. He couldn't just let things be, could he? He reminded Harry an awful lot of Albus Dumbledore. He was also furious with the way Wizarding world treated the Creatures. He could remember countless instances which clearly portrayed the bigotry of the wizards against creatures.

Unaware of Harry's rather violent thoughts, Fireclaw continued," However, what the others did not know was that the Dark Ones had cast old magic before killing themselves to make sure that their magic was preserved in their heir's line. So, when a worthy wizard was born of their blood, their magic would reassert itself in that particular person's magical core and they would receive some of the characteristics and power similar to that of a Dark One. This wizard would lead the Dark to its freedom. The task of finding and informing the chosen one was given to us goblins which is also one of the reasons we opened Gringotts. But, this inheritance doesn't mean that you will become powerful in a day. No, you will have to train and train hard"

"And when will this said change take place?", Harry asked. He certainly wouldn't mind a boost of additional power. He was powerful, true, but he still didn't have as much magical potential as Voldemort and Dumbledore.

" The change takes place when the person turns sixteen but this does not mean that they will be able to make it through the change. Usually a person's magical core once formed will not take kindly to any change done to it. So, once the old magic has been triggered, your core has no choice but to change and if it doesn't, you may end up dead or even worse, as a squib. It depends on a person's will power to make it through. In all these years, only four people have been marked but none of them made it through the change"

Nothing could ever be easy, could it? Harry sighed. Well, No Pain No Gain, it seemed.

"Take a look at your family tree. The O'Dorchaidhe line lasted 700 years before it was unable to produce a male heir and the female heir was married into the Edna family. Due to similar circumstances, the magic was transferred through five families before it was brought into the Potter family 600 years ago through the marriage of Vasilisa Darth to Corvus Potter. Vasilisa was the direct female descendant and heir to the O'Dorchaidhe line. Of course, she didn't know that. The O'Dorchaidhe line was completely forgotten by then"

Harry nodded."Isn't there any way that I could come into my inheritance before my birthday?" Harry asked in a curious voice. After all, his birthday was nearly two months away and would it not be better to train with those yet-to-be-known skills of his for three months rather than just one month?

Fireclaw considered that for a moment, his mind quickly at work searching for a solution, before he replied," There is no potion to achieve that. However, if you become the Lord of the House of Potter now rather than on your sixteenth birthday, the Magic will recognize that you are ready to receive your inheritance now itself. This is the only loophole available to us"

Lord of the House of Potter? Wait. How could that be? As far as he knew, only the rich purebloods like the Malfoys, Blacks, Parkinsons had a seat on the House of Lords. After all, he had never heard Mr. Weasley referred to as Lord Weasley, had he? So, how come the Potters had one? He would get his answers later, Harry decided.

Harry nodded resolutely, "Then we will do that"

The Elder goblin gave a grin and continued in a rather grim tone, "Before, we do this, we still have some delicate matters to discuss regarding your Black fortune"

Harry just blinked before understanding dawned in him along with a crushing wave of sadness. Bellatrix, he reminded himself. Bellatrix was still out there and he would kill her, crush her as inhumanly as possible and watch as her life drained away from her body. And he would enjoy every second of it, he vowed.

Harry nodded and indicated the Chief goblin to lead the way. Once they entered the main office, Harry noticed that Silvertongue had left the room during their absence. Shrugging his shoulders, he resumed the chair he'd vacated earlier. He watched as Fireclaw rummaged through his drawers and pulled out a thick sheaf of parchment along with a glass sphere.

After placing the glass sphere right in the middle of the table, he announced," This is the Last Will and Testament of Sirius Orion Black"

Just like the Trelawney from the Pensieve, a revolving figure of Sirius came out of the sphere and started,

" I, Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and body, do hereby declare this my Last Will and Testament. I direct that my godson, Harry James Potter, be the executor of my estate and work in cooperation with Gringotts Bank to carry out the provisions stated in this Will.

I, hereby, name Harry James Potter my heir and bequeath the title of Lord Black to him including all of the social and political obligations thereof.

The provisions are:

First, to my best friend, Remus John Lupin, I leave a sum of 200,000 galleons and a villa in the Erudian Forests. I kindly ask that you would buy yourself a large wardrobe of clothin, Moony. Merlin knows I tried. I know there is no need to say this but please take care of my Harry and always support him in whatever he does.

Second, to my cousin Andromeda and her family, I leave a sum of 50,000 galleons. Andromeda, I wish we could have spent more time together catching up old times but it was not meant to be. So, I wish you a good life, dear cousin of mine. Tonks, you are a great person and you should always do what your heart says. I know that you hold the authority in high regard, but also beware of their fickleness.

Lastly, I leave the remainder of my estate and assets to my godson, Harry James Potter. Harry, always remember that I will love you forever, no matter what you do. Follow your heart, Harry. It will always lead you right. Also, beware of the cobwebs surrounding you. Remove them and you will have a much happier life. That is all I can say for now. And remember, you can always count on Remus.

To everyone else, see you until we meet in the great beyond..."

Harry wiped the corner of his eye from where a single tear had escaped without him knowing. Grief tightened his heart. Sirius must have known the duplicity of the people around him. Why hadn't Sirius warned him before? Perhaps, Sirius had been scared that he would not believe his words. He could only wonder. After composing himself, Harry looked up at the Chief goblin.

"As you can see, Mr. Potter, Sirius Black named you as his legal heir which means you are set to receive all the Black fortune and properties. However, I was visited by the Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore a few days ago. He requested to view the will of Sirius Black. After examining it, he left the room slightly displeased. The very next day, he brought with him a legal document which practically reinstated him as the financial holder of the Black vaults until you came of age. This could be done because he is now your temporary guardian until you turn seventeen. The document also included a clause that stated money could be withdrawn from the charge's vault to fund organizations. I quickly realized that by the mention of organizations, Dumbledore was referring to his own group known as the Order of the Phoenix."

Harry surmised that this must have been what Diggle had been talking about. So, Dumbledore had obviously presumed that he could steal money from _HIS_ vault without him knowing. Harry particularly didn't care much for money but he would rather die than allow Dumbledore's wrinkled old hands anywhere near his possessions. Besides, Harry figured that the money could be used to fund his own side in the war.

" So, instead of agreeing with Dumbledore, I asked him for a few more days' time to ponder on this matter. Dumbledore had failed to consider the fact that, in case, you became Lord Black, he wouldn't be able to be the financial holder or your guardian"

Harry smirked. "Then could you please present me with my family rings, Gornunuk Fireclaw?"

"Of course, Mr. Potter. However, the instant you put on the Potter ring, you must know that you will start undergoing the change"

Harry nodded. He knew that the possibility of him surviving the change was very slim. But, he wasn't scared of dying. Atleast not much. This was bound to happen. So, better sooner than later.

"I've got a question. After the change, will I be a creature or a human?", Harry asked. He didn't care what he was either way but he figured that knowing couldn't hurt.

"You will not become a creature, Mr. Potter. Rather, you would be a human who has some of the characteristics similar to that of the Dark One. You will know more about it after you've completed the change"

Fireclaw produced a black silk cloth upon which a beautiful but simple ring rested, done in white-gold with a large square black diamond fixed on top of it. Harry placed the ring on the little finger of his right hand. After a brief flash of magic had passed through him, recognizing him as the new Lord Black, Fireclaw slowly opened a thick velvet cloth to reveal a twisted golden band that had a griffin head on top of the ring. The eyes of the Griffin was replaced with two small rubies. Similarly, the sides of the band had 3 inlaid rubies on either side of the Griffin head.

Harry placed the ring on the index finger of his left hand. Harry was about to ask more questions about the Potter fortune, but before he could do that, out of nowhere, he was suddenly consumed by a wave of intense pain. Noticing this, Fireclaw immediately led him to a door at the far end of the office, which when opened, revealed to be a bedroom tastefully done in blues and golds. Harry quickly lay down on the bed before he was wracked with another bout of crushing agony.

Merlin, he had not known that pain worse than the Cruciatus curse was even possible. But fuck, he was experiencing it firsthand now. Every nerve ending in his body felt like it was being electrocuted. His chest was burning a hole inside him. It felt as if his blood had thickened and he couldn't even breathe properly. _Shite_. Was he going to die after all?

After enduring hours of agony, Harry wanted to die but at the same time, he didn't want to. How many hours would it take for this to end? He felt so thirsty. Although, it was hurting like hell, he refused to let a sound escape him. He could feel the coppery taste in his mouth from his bitten lips. The only thing that had him from giving into the blissful darkness was his resolve. Resolve to prove that he was much better than the others who didn't make it, more powerful than them. Resolve to prove to the wizarding world how wrong they had been. Resolve to kill Bellatrix. Resolve to prove to Voldemort that he was the most powerful. Resolve to make Dumbledore pay for his mistakes. Resolve to win the war for the Dark. Until then, he would endure...

* * *

The first thing he felt when he regained consciousness was the feel of cool silk sheets against his naked back. Subsequently, he was hit by the joyous realization that he was alive; he had made it through the change when none before him had. Harry grinned. He had felt the Power that came with the change. It was still out of his reach but he would conquer it. Soon. During his unending agony, Harry had come to a startling conclusion. Power. Glorious Power. Only Power mattered in the world. Not blood or status as the majority of the Pureblood's believed.

Smirking, Harry opened his eyes only to close it immediately in the next instant. He vigorously rubbed his eyes before he opened them again. Nope. Everything was the same, only a ten times more clearer and vivid than he'd ever seen things before. He didn't even need his glasses. So, enhanced vision was one side-effect, Harry noted.

Actually, it made sense. His magical core was large but the Dark One's magical core was much larger. So, when the two of them merged, his survival instincts would have kicked in subconsciously and would have tried to channel some of the excess magic to his extremities. Harry guessed that he would probably have enhanced hearing, sensing, flexibility, speed among other things.

Harry stood up gracefully and slipped on the dark green silk robe that had been placed on the night stand beside his bed. Tying the belt, he moved to stand in front of the large full-length mirror propped against the wall and gasped. The person in the mirror was him, no doubt about that; only, much more handsome. The changes were subtle. He had been good-looking before; but now, his features had a more refined look to them.

His cheekbones and jaw now looked even more chiselled with a firm aquiline nose. His rather thin lips had slightly filled out and now looked an enticing cherry pink. HIs mop of dark hair had lengthened and fell to his shoulders in neat waves and shone a lustrous raven-black from the early-morning sunrays reflecting on it.

He'd even gained a few inches height. Although, he would never be as tall as Draco Malfoy, he now stood at a respectable height of 5'10. However, he was slightly annoyed with the fact that his tan had faded off giving way to glowing porcelain complexion. (He wasn't sure whether he liked it or not. He'd always been of the opinion that only blondes looked good with porcelain skin like Draco Malfoy. Wait. Where did that come from? No, Malfoy did not look good. He had not thought that. Nope.)

However, the most captivating feature on his face were his eyes. They now resembled a deep vortex of vivid greens, without any whites, just like the Dark Ones' eyes.

Before he could continue his ogling, narcissist that he was, he was interrupted by a polite clearing of the throat from the Chief Goblin Fireclaw. Harry turned to face the goblin who had a huge grin plastered on his face, "I believe congratulations are in order, Lord Potter"

Harry simply smirked smugly and replied, "Indeed, Gornunuk Fireclaw"

After a few minutes of small talk, the Chief Goblin resumed a more serious air, " Mr. Potter, it is indeed an admirable feat to have done this but you must be aware that you now have a huge well of power that resides in you, in par with Dumbledore and Voldemort. But, unlike them, you haven't harnessed it yet. But, also unlike them, your magical core is much wilder and if you don't control it, it will begin to control you. We will provide you with instructors who are the best in their respective fields "

" And why would you do that for me?", Harry asked with honest curiosity in his voice.

"You are the Dark Ones' heir and it is our duty to provide whatever it is that you require"

"And is that all?", Harry asked, knowing that the goblin wanted to add something else as well.

"No, that's not all. You should know that the goblins were the most trusted beings by the Dark Ones. We were the most loyal and the most powerful. The one thing they clearly stated to us when they assigned us our task was that there would be no more wizards marked in the future, once the Chosen heir had successfully undergone the Change. So, this means that you are the last hope for the Dark"

"Even if I die, there is still Voldemort. He is still fighting for the dark, isn't he? Why won't you help him but only me?", Harry asked. He already knew the reason, but he still wanted verbal confirmation from the Elder goblin.

"As I said earlier, many Dark Lords were there in the past but, not one of them ever fought for the creatures. Oh, there were several clever ones who allied themselves with some of the creatures but once the war was won, they were cast aside. The Dark Lords fought for power or for the right to wield Dark Magic by the wizards or like in Voldemort's case, for muggle subjugation. But never for us"

"And what makes you believe I would?", Harry asked, testing the Chief goblin.

"I know that it was presumptuous of me to assume that, but I still do. I can clearly see the fire that burns in your eyes whenever I speak of the bigotry against the creatures. So, I know that you will fight for us"

"Indeed, that was presumptuous of you, but nonetheless true", Harry quietly noted.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me to hear that from you. Like I said, this is not just a wizard's war like the countless ones' before. No, this will be a war which involves everyone. Both Wizards and creatures. This is the one chance where the Dark will rise once more or it will meet its end once and for all. This will be our last stand. But, I must warn you, the Goblin Nation will be involved only if you prove to us that you are able to control your magic. We would rather perish than follow a mad leader who is a prisoner of his own magic"

Harry nodded. He would never be controlled by anyone or anything ever again. He was free at last and nothing would ever hold him down. He would destroy everything that was an obstacle in his path to freedom. Even if it was his own magic. Harry pivoted to face the mirror with a sinister smile and an unearthly glow in his green eyes.

* * *

A/N: This is not a creature Harry fic. Harry is still a human only with some extra benefits. Although, on some occasions, he might show some slight creature-like tendencies. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review?


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